Two proscribed outfits, the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN), have expressed concern over the spread of Swine flu.
The ULFA published a special article and notice in the latest issue of their mouthpiece ‘’Freedom’’.
Giving a vivid description of the outbreak of Swine flu in Mexico and other South American countries, besides the threat it carries, the ULFA mouthpiece, in fact, drew a panicky picture saying their cadres stayed in close proximity to pigs in their camps inside the jungles of Myanmar and Bangladesh.
According to UNI report, most of the existing ULFA cadres were cooped up deep inside Myanmar. Although they were not directly in touch with jetsetting passengers filing in and out of international airports as they were hundreds of miles away from the nearest one, the militant organisation was taking the threat seriously.
‘’They are more concerned because they have no mechanism to stop it if it reaches the camps and their strength may get wiped out in no time,’’ said Lt Col Prem Chaturvedi of the Indian Army based at Shillong, keeping an eye over the development.
With the rainy season about to arrive, the ULFA cadres are entering the annual danger zone, as during this period they lose on an average ten per cent of their cadre strength to tropical diseases like Malaria, Encephalitis as well as gastro-related diseases.
The Army source informed that as the supply chains had been choked, the militants were now in a tight corner and after the surrender of majority of their strike force, they were in an even worse position.